McCrimmon joined NHL radio hosts Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick who touched on a number of subjects including Marchessault’s decision to sign a free agent contract with the Nashville Predators.
Vegas has flourished under the leadership of McCrimmon and hockey operations president George McPhee. Over seven seasons in the NHL, the team has won a Stanley Cup, two Campbell Bowls and 11 playoff series, 57 playoff games and 312 regular season games. Unquestionably they are among the best successful franchises in the NHL over that time.
Here is McCrimmon on the team's offseason.
Gord Stellick, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio: On the business side, you had big moves last year with getting Tomas Hertl at the trade deadline and getting Noah Hanifin just earlier, then signing him to an eight-year contract. That's what you guys have done for a number of seasons, and you've been really good at making business decisions. Jonathan Marchessault, obviously everyone wants to stay, but he got a five-year contract ultimately with Nashville. He wanted four years and you were going to offer three and whatever it would be. I don't know how much you care to comment on that or not but was it the kind of thing that there was a way to keep him, but it came down to term? Was it that simple?
Kelly McCrimmon: Well, there's a lot that goes into it and I guess I'll speak to it briefly. We did offer Jonathan four years. We met with his representatives the day prior to the NHL Draft and made an offer of four years that turned into a five year-offer that he then received from Nashville. That just wasn't a term we were comfortable in going to. We emotionally are attached to the players that have helped us have success, yet there's just no supporting data that justify, or in our minds, demonstrate a reason to have wingers that age like that at the end of their career. So, I think it's important to make a couple of comments on it. Jonathan did exactly what he's entitled to do. He was a free agent. He came off a great year. He's at a point in his career where, yes, he really wanted to stay in Las Vegas, but yes, he really wanted to make as much money as he could on his next contract for his family, which is what he did. We did nothing wrong. We made a decision that we weren't comfortable going to five years on a contract, and that's how it ended. So, at this point we recognize exactly what he meant to the franchise. I think also that the franchise was very good to him. When you look at the group of players we brought in year one as Misfits, it was pretty good for those players’ careers and I think that Marchy was one of those guys. He had a great line with Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev, really played well, won the Conn Smythe Trophy, and had a big year last year in terms of his offensive production. He’s going to go do a real good job for Nashville. We wish him well, and we think that we're prepared to move on also. So,that's how these decisions come to be. Again, this wasn't a situation where we traded Jonathan, this was a situation where he was a free agent, exercised his rights under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and made a decision. We made a decision as we're entitled to do as well.
Scott Laughlin, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio: Just talking about a guy you bring in here with Alexander Holtz, still all kinds of untapped potential. He's 22 years of age and when he was drafted as highly as he was, he came in with that pedigree of having that great shot, having that great release, and the ability to score goals. Give me a sense as to what you'd expect from this kid here as he tries to carve out a spot on your roster to make a difference in a new location with a change of scenery this season.
KM: Well, I think the timing is good for Alex because we've got opportunities. I think we've had pretty good luck bringing in some young players that needed a change. It doesn't just happen with us; it happens across the league where a player gets two or three or four years into his career and then benefits by having a change. Alex was a really high draft choice by New Jersey. He was a guy that our staff, like I'm sure any staff in the NHL, had a lot of regard for. He then arrived with a bunch of other really good young players in a battle for ice time and opportunity. It just came to a point where the change was maybe what was going to make the most sense for him. So for us, we're happy to give Alexander an opportunity because we think we do have opportunities on the wing. I think when you look at the makeup of our team, our centers with Eichel, Hertl, William Karlsson, Nicolas Roy and our defense returns intact, with the exception of Alec Martinez who moved on to Chicago, we've got really good veteran experience down the middle of the ice. I think that it's going to give a player like Alexander a real good opportunity to take a step.
GS: Jack Eichel was one of those guys when Buffalo made some decisions, you got him a couple of years ago in a big trade. The quieter Victor Olofsson, a guy that had 20 plus-goals for a few years and a little bit older. Where do you see him fitting with your team?
KM: Well, Victor's had success with Jack. That's been the best times of his NHL career, playing alongside Jack Eichel. Jack was really supportive of us considering Victor, and I think it's not unlike what I just spoke to with Alexander. We've got some opportunities on our wing. It wasn’t just Jonathan Marchessault we lost, right? We lost William Carrier up front as well and we lost Chandler Stephenson. So, we've got opportunity for some players. Buffalo had such a stockpile of talented forwards that he ended up in a situation where he was not getting the opportunity that he had previously. We've got opportunity for himand we've got a player in Jack Eichel who he’s had some success with. That’s the motivation behind bringing him in.
SL: Adin Hill's got an opportunity this season, no doubt, to open up further eyes within Hockey Canada. Maybe a chance to play at the Four Nations, and maybe even the Olympics in Italy in 2026. Then, you bring in Ilya Samsonov from Toronto, who was coming off a fairly productive year when he was healthy for the Toronto Maple Leafs as well. Give me a sense as to what you're feeling about your goaltending going into this season because if anybody knows that you need goaltending depth from the start of the season to the end, hopefully resulting in a Stanley Cup Championship, it would be you and the Vegas Golden Knights.
KM: Well, we sure do. We lived that the year that we won going through five goaltenders. Even last year, we battled injuries there and it's part of the reason that a guy like Akira Schmid, who we brought in from New Jersey, and who's won a playoff series in the NHL with New Jersey. We wanted to have that kind of depth. So, Adin has got a lot of regard in our organization, and we are hopeful that he can remain healthy. With Ilya Samsonov, a really good pedigree and a really talented goaltender. We think he is going to compliment Adin very well. So, the changes that we made at that position in the offseason we feel really strengthened our team.
